Sand Mountain remembers her music, philanthropy
By DONNA THORNTON, Editor
The news Aug. 25 hit hard: Dolly Parton, singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist, died, reports said, after a brief battle with cancer.
At radio station WQSB – where so many people heard Dolly’s music over the years – the station’s staff heard from listeners, morning show host Barry Galloway said, about what they thought of the artist and how her music and the way she lived her life had touched their own.
“So many said she felt like a friend, that when she talked they felt like she was talking to them,” Galloway said. They shared with songs they loved and made requests.
And WQSB responded, playing those requests and more. Station General Manager Tyler May put together a compilation of songs, interspersed with comments from Dolly, Galloway said, and listeners loved it. He said there were people calling, asking for copies.
“We didn’t hear a negative comment,” he said — not one call saying “play something else.”
Last Wednesday, the morning show podcast – the station’s 500th podcast episode – was a tribute to Dolly Parton and her legacy. The station also used the nearby billboard to honor the artist. Galloway said he’d heard from people who appreciated that tribute, too.
The station has not witnessed that kind of outpouring from listeners, Galloway said, since the death of Jeff Cook in 2022 Cook was one of the founders of Alabama and a native of neighboring DeKalb County. Like Parton, Cook and the band were known for holding onto their rural roots and giving back to their communities. For decades Alabama hosted the June Jam, giving millions to DeKalb County and state needs.
Dolly brought jobs and revenue to East Tennessee with construction of Dollywood theme park, donated to medical causes and created the Imagination Library – a literacy effort that sends books from the homes of pre-schoolers from birth to the age of five.
Community partners help fund the program on the local level, and in 2023, the state expanded funding for the program to cover half the cost.
In 2025, Gov. Kay Ivey said since the expansion, 22 local programs had been created and there was a 106% increase in children registered for it. At that time, there were more than 82,000 Alabama children registered.
Dolly had said she was inspired to start the program because of her father, who could not read. More than 300 million books have been given to children during the 31 years the program has been in existence.
For Albertville children, the Albertville City Schools Foundation is the local champion for the book program. More than 8,700 books were mailed to Albertville children ages 5 and under in 2024 through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, according to the foundation’s Facebook page.
The PIRATE Foundation is a local champion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Currently, 530 children in Boaz have received free books through the program. If you have a child under the age of five who lives in Boaz, the foundation invites you to sign them up and start building their very own home library.
If you live outside Boaz, you can also search to see if Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is available in your community at https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/affiliate/ALBOAZ/
The things she did away from music, the Imagination Library, creating Dollywood to give families and place to go for entertainment, the help she gave to hospitals, Galloway said, seem to be things people recalled. Those may be the things that are missed the most about the country music legend, he said.
Her music will be there always, for those who loved her.
A billboard outside Sand Mountain Broadcasting headquarters on U.S. 431 South in Albertville pays tribute to the late Dolly Parton, who died Aug. 25. Photo by DONNA THORNTON l The Leader
